Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday called upon people to condemn the alleged attempts to divide society and to work towards enhancing the spirit of the country's independence.
"Some negative forces will always be there. We need not feel disheartened by them. This land has driven away the British rulers who used to say that the sun never sets on the British empire. They treated us like slaves," he said.
He said he believes that the country has the capacity to throw away "any black sheep that emerges amongst us".
K Chandrasekhar Rao was speaking after inaugurating the celebration of 75 years of Independence.
He called upon the people of the state and the country to condemn the conspiracies to divide society and disturb peace.
"We have to safeguard this country. We should move in the direction of enhancing the spirit of independence and the spirit of endeavour for development. I call upon you that we should also get ready from Telangana to work at the national-level, if necessary," he said.
K Chandrasekhar Rao, popularly known as KCR, also alleged about incidents and comments showing Mahatma Gandhi in poor light.
"All of us should condemn such attempts in one voice and try to raise the greatness of the Father of the Nation," he said.
Gandhi would remain the Mahatma and the attempts of "such (divisive) forces" would never succeed, he said.
Talking about the history of freedom movement, he recalled the comments of world leaders like former US President Barack Obama and late Nelson Mandela in praise of Mahatma Gandhi.
He lauded the efforts of officials and personnel of power utilities and also other departments in helping the state make rapid progress in various sectors, including supplying 24x7 power.
On the occasion, he appreciated pugilist Nikhat Zareen from Telangana for achieving a gold medal in the ongoing Commonwealth Games.
K Chandrasekhar Rao said he has asked Chief Secretary to screen the movie 'Gandhi' for lakhs of students in the state.
State Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar gave details of the events to be organised as part of the 75 years of Independence Day celebrations till August 22.
He said about 20 lakh students are expected to watch the 'Gandhi' movie.
The events include distribution of national flags to all households, a Freedom Run across the state and singing of the national anthem in all gram panchyats and municipalities at a designated time.
Earlier, K Chandrasekhar Rao unfurled the national flag before the inauguration of the celebrations. Several cultural programmes were organised on the occasion. The programme was attended by state ministers and a number of public representatives.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
